‘No warm clothes’, Mamata heads to camps to take stock

The CM will stay in Alipurduar on Friday night and visit the camps on Saturday morning, SP Anup Jaiswal said.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee left for Alipurduar on Friday afternoon to visit and inspect the relief camps at Kumargram, where Adivasis from violence hit Kokrajhar have sought shelter.

The CM will stay in Alipurduar on Friday night and visit the camps on Saturday morning, Superintendent of Police Anup Jaiswal said. Meanwhile, TMC workers claimed there weren’t enough warm clothes for people — many of them minors — staying at the relief camps.

Kabita Das, the TMC-elected upa-pradhan (vice-chairperson) of the Changmari village panchayat, visited the Balapara and Changmari relief camps on Friday.

Das said a total of 750 people were living in both camps and about 200 of them were children. “They have got a safe shelter but warm clothes are in demand. Many kids don’t have adequate protection,” said Das. “When Mamata didi comes tomorrow, we will tell her about these problems,” she added.

In the Balapara camp, said Das, inmates are mostly Bodos and a few Ravas. She said that in tribal-dominated areas, Bodo homes were targeted, forcing them to flee.

Meanwhile, Gunodhar Das, BJP district president of Alipurduar, and Monoranjan Pal, BJP block president in Kumargram, said that the party had arranged for rice, pulses and vegetables for refugees. “We are also trying to ensure that there is no escalation in violence,” said Pal.

First uploaded on: 27-12-2014 at 02:26 IST

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